ARTS WATCH. Dance review.

Paul Taylor Dance Company Takes Light-footed Swipe At Ballet

November 07, 1996|By Eve Becker. Special to the Tribune.

For modern dancers, the New York-based Paul Taylor Dance Company spends a lot of time with ballet.

In its performance Monday at the Arts Center at College of DuPage, in Glen Ellyn, the company devoted two of its three pieces to aspects of ballet--whether spoofing it or incorporating its elements into modern dance.

"Offenbach Overtures," the newest work in Paul Taylor's extensive repertoire, capped the evening by humorously lambasting ballet and the archaic traditions of etiquette.

Set to a score by composer Jacques Offenbach, the work spoofs courtly mannerisms in a way that is pure comedy, eliciting appreciative chuckles from the audience. The effect is both witty and wise, as it's delightfully unusual to laugh at the conventions of dance and society.

With tawdry red and black costumes that mimic cancan getups of the Moulin Rouge, the piece pokes fun at the predictable: A dancer squirms in the arms of her companion as he sweeps her off her feet; male dancers prance and preen; a woman dances dizzily as if off balance.

The highlight is a foppish quartet of men swaggering like toy soldiers, with feathers in their hats, full of blustering bravado as they challenge each other to duels. A quick draw turns into a daffy dance; two adversaries blow kisses at each other. It's outrageousness that ends in a polite curtsy--an enjoyable juxtaposition.

"Airs" also includes elements of ballet--but in a lighter way. Modern dance is often rooted in earthy movements. This instead is a delightfully airy piece, set to Handel's music, with ice-blue diaphanous costumes and barefoot dancers, with their arms outstretched to the heavens.

A thoroughly modern work, "Polaris" explores polar opposites, as dancers clad in graphic black and white move around a large, open cube made of pipes.

Paul Taylor's works are witty and well-performed, with a touch of humor throughout--welcome elements in a form that sometimes takes itself much too seriously.